Can body beader



0. BUTTERS April 10, 1956 CAN BODY BEADER 4 SheetsSheet 2 Filed June 1, 1951 o. BUTTERS 2,741,292

CAN BODY BEADER 4 Sheets-Sheet. 5

April 10, 1956 Filed June 1, 1951 7%ZA4 MM O. BUTTERS A ril 10, 1956 CAN BODY BEADER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 1, 1951 INVENTOR. Orro 5077595 ATTO/P/Vi j United States Patent CAN BODY READER Otto Butters, Gakiand, Calif, assignor to Atlas Imperial Diesel Engine (30., Oakland, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application dune 1, 1951, SeriaiNo. 229,477

Claims. (Cl. 153-73) This invention relates to machines for performing operations on can bodies.

A main object of the present invention is to provide a combined flanger and header apparatus for flanging and beading can bodies.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved header for beading can bodies.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a flange-r having a turret provided with can body receiving pockets, a header having a turret provided with can body receiving pockets, and a transfer turret having can body receiving pockets and disposed between the turret for the fianger and the turret for the headerand which transfer turret is driven so that the pockets thereof successively register first with the pockets in the danger turret, then with the pockets in the header turret to provide continuous travel for can bodies through the machine.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a header so constructed that the capacity of the header is increased by providing a female die composed of two separate die members, instead of a single member, mounted on opposed plungers which are reciprocated to insert and retract the female die members into and out of a can body, to thereby decrease the time required to insert andretract the female die. i

Another object of the present invention is to provide a header in which the can bodies are headed in a twostep operation to avoid pie-humping of the can bodies, and therefore allowing direct reception of can bodies from a flanger.

A further object of the invention is to provide a combined flanger and header in a compact unit to save floor space and to avoid excessive handling and manipulating of the can bodies. 7

Various other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a'sectional view in elevation of a combined flanger and header embodying the concepts of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view of a can body prior to flanging and heading.

Fig. 3 depicts a can body after having been flanged.

Fig. 4 depicts a can body afterhaving been flanged and headed. i

Fig. 5 "is a cross-sectional view taken generally in elevation along line 5-5 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 5 showing the mechanism for moving the male header dies from inoperative to operative position.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view'through the male and female dies as the dies are positioned during a heading operation.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 8-3 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view along line 9 .-9.of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view along line 1fl.10 of Fig. 8.

Referring to. the accompanying, drawings, the combined "ice danger and header in general includes a fianger generally entitled 15, the construction of which is shown in the co-pending application of Ed Laxo for Feed Chute and Guide for Can Body Carrying Turret, Serial No. 724,378 filed January 25, 1947, now Patent No. 2,569,180, issued September 25, 1951. Flanger 15 has a turret 16 having can body receiving pockets 17 adapted to receive can bod ies A and feed the can bodies to a, transfer turret 20 having can body receiving pockets 21, said transfer turret being adapted to feed the can bodies to a header turret having can body receiving pockets 26, all as best shown in Fig. 1, The turrets 17, 2t) and 25, are driven by means to be described so that the pockets of transfer turret 20 are caused to successively register first with the pockets of flanger turret 16 and then with the pockets of header turret 25 so that a synchronous reception and transfer of the can bodies from the turret 16 to the turret 25 is achieved.

The cans A are flanged in the fianger 15 in a manner set out in the previously identified co-pending application, and in general by opposed oppositely-reciprocating plungers having flanging dies on the ends thereof (not shown); After fianging, the can bodies are fed to the header turret 25. Each of the pockets 26 of the beader turret 25 has a pair of opposed plungers 30 and 31 associated therewith and carried by the turret 25 and driven by means to be described so as to oppositeiy reciprocate, said plungers carrying female die members 33 and 34 respectively which are inserted into and retracted from can bodies by the plungers. There is a male die generally entitled 35 (see Fig. '7)for each pocket 26 of the header, which male dies are mounted for pivotal movement toward the female dies to co-act therewith for heading can bodies, and be moved away therefrom to allow removal of beaded can bodies, and depositing of unbeaded can bodies in pockets 26.

More in detail, the apparatus of the present invention includes a header frame comprising spaced side frame members and 66 supported by a base 67 and supporting the hanger 15 at 68,

The transfer turret Ztl'is rotatably mounted in frame members 65 and 66 on a shaft 69 which is provided with a sprocket 29 to enable the driving of the transfer turret 2% in timed relation to fianger turret 16 and header turret 25.

The header turret 25 includes framework sections 81 and 32 mounted on and keyed by keys 79 to a header turret drive shaft 33. There is a central section 84 for the turret 25 which is secured to the sections 31 and 82, as clearly shown in Fig. 5 by bolts '87. The pockets 26 on the turret 25 are provided by guide plates 88 and 89 secured to sections 81 and 82 respectively and suitably scalloped at their edges to provide the pockets 26.

The shaft 83 is supported at its ends by insert castings 91 having bearings 92 for the shaft and receivable through openings 94- in the frames 65 and 66. The sections 91 are secured to the frames 65 and 66 by annular rings 96 suitably bolted at 97, and 98 to the frames 65 and 66 and insert castings 91 respectively. There are thrust washers 1G0 disposed between the sections 81 and 82. and the insert castings 91. v

The sections 81 and 82 are provided adjacent the peripheries thereof with a plurality of longitudinally disposed outwardy facing channels 181 to sli'dably receive sleeves 1G2, which in turn rotatahly receive plungers 3t) and 31 by means or" bushings 1134. Sleeves 192 are square incro'ss section and are retained in channels 191 by plates (see Fig. 6). Sleeves 102 are provided with bosses 196 (see Fig. 5) which protrude therefrom and reciprocate within slots 107- provided in 81 and 82. Follower rollers 110. are rotatably mounted on studs 112 threaded within the bosses 166, said followers riding within the grooves by being mounted on and supported by a header turret and axially rotated by engagement of the spur gears 117 with stationary ring gears 120.

The male dies 36 are mounted for three different movements, circular bodily movement resulting from being mounted on the header turret 25, a pivotal or swinging bodily movement to and from an operative position, and an axial rotary movement forcausiug rotation and ehfecting beading of can bodies.

Male dies 36 are mounted for swinging movement about 7 the axes of shafts 139 in a manner to be described, as

best shown in Fig. 8, said shafts being received within bores 140 and bushed at 141 within the bores, said bores being provided in the sections 81 and 82 and being spaced alternately with respect to channels 181, as can best be appreciated from Fig. 6.

Each male die 36 includes a shaft 143 rotatably supported by bushings 146 in the'outer end of an arm 144 keyed at 145 to the associated shaft 139, as shown in Fig. 8, said bushing being retained on each arm by a plate 147 and screws 147a. Each shaft 13? is adapted to be oscillated by a face cam 14% through an assembly comprising an arm 150 which is keyed at 151 to shaft 139 and retained on the shaft by a screw 156a. Each arm 150 is driven by a bell crank 152 rotatably mounted on a hub 158 on. the arm andrretainedthereon by a screw 153' loosely received within the outer end of the bell crank, as shown in -Fig.8, and threadedly received by the outer end of arm 15%). The outer end of each bell crank 1 52 has laterally disposed spaced ears 156, receiving'a finger 157 on the outer end of each arm 151' Each of the ears 156 threadedly receives an adjusting bolt 159, having a lock nut 160 thereon for setting the adjustment, thereby permitting an initial adjustment of the parts when assembling the apparatus and permitting adjustment of the depth of the beads to be formed in a can body. Bell cranks 152 have follower rollers 154 rotatably secured thereto and riding within the groove of face cam 148 to thereby cause movement of male dies 36 to and from their operative positions. The face cam 148 is secured'by bolts 165 to the righthand insert casting 91 as the parts are depicted in Fig. 8.

Means for axially rotating the male dies 36 are provided and each male die has associated therewith a rotary shaft 181 supported by bushings 182 in a bore 183 provided in the section 81, as clearly shown. in Fig. 8. The righthand end of each shaft 181, as the parts are depicted in Fig. 8, has a spur-gear 184 thereon in mesh with a spur gear 185 mounted on the lefthand end of shaft 143.

Shafts 181 and 139 are co-axial, as clearly shown in Fig. 8, so that the axial drives to the male dies 36 do not interfere with the'oscillating movement of the male dies caused by shafts 139..

Each rotary shaft 181 has a spur gear 188 fixed to l the outer end thereof andin driven engagement with a ring gear 189, secured to the lefthand insert casting 91 by 7 bolts 190 (see Fig.8). Ring gear 189, being fixed to the insert casting 91 which is in turn fixed to frame 65, is stationary and since spur-gears 188 are bodily rotated because of being carried by the header turret 25, a drive is established between the ring gear 189 and the spurmeans of a cap screw 207. a Each cap 205 has a header groove 210 therein and there is a second header groo'v 'e 211 provided on an annular ring 214 which is retained in place of its main section 204 by spacers 215. There are suitable resilient rings 21S disposed on either'side of each ring at 214 adapted to resiliently engage a can body. Each main section 204 of each female die member has a flange 217 to accommodate the flanged portion C on each can body A. Each male die 36 includes 7 members 221 and 222 mounted on shaft 143. Each die member has two flanged portions 223, each' provided with a bead 226 for co-acting with grooves 219 and 211 on the female die members for providing beads D in cams A.

, The channels formed by flanges 223 and an outer flange 22.9 on each section receive resilient rings 23%? which coast with resilient rings 218 to grip and hold the wall of a can body between the male and female dies to prevent slipping thereof. The resilient rings 230 on male die 36, and 218 on the female dies 33 and 34 are obviously compressed when in engagement with the wall of a can body, as clearly shown in Fig. 7, to enable them to effect a gripping of a can body.

The danger 15 is adapted to be driven by a suitable source of power not shown and the driving shaft 83 of header 25 is adapted to be driven by a chain and sprocket mechanism of the flanger through a sprocket 241, which is fixed to the lefthand end of the driving shaft 83, as 7 clearly shown in Fig. 5. The driving shaft 69 for the 7,

synchronous driving relationship between the transfer turret 20, the fianger turret 16 and header turret 25, so that the pockets 21 of the transfer turret 20 successively register first with the pockets 17 of danger turret 16 and then with the pockets 26 of the header turret 25.

It is desirable in some cases to merely flange the can bodies without beading thereof. ejector 261 (see Fig. l) is pivotally mounted at 262 so as to be swingable from the full line position, as the parts are depicted in Fig. 1, to the dot-dash line position. Suitable means not shown are provided for latching the ejector 261 in either of its positions. In the full line position as shown in Fig. 1, the can bodies A are allowed to be picked up by the transfer turret 20 and transferred to the header turret 25. However, when the ejector 261 is moved to the dot-dash position, the cans are ejected through a chute 264 and may be collected by any suitthe seams to enable the header to efiectively provide a head in the can without skipping the seams. In the present invention, the expensive operation of pre-bumping the cans is unnecessary for two main reasons: first, because the cans are beaded in a two-step operation, and, secondly, because the male and female dies are both positively driven, therefore eliminating slipping between the can body and the .dies. The provision of the resilient rings 230 and 211 on the male and female dies'respectively assist in preventing slipping between the can body and the dies. a I

The operation of the danger and header is as follows: With reference to Fig. 6, it canbe seen that the groove of the face cam 148 for oscillating the male dies 36 has an inwardmost portion 291, an intermediate portion 292 and an outermost portion 293, considered in a radial direction, saidportions corresponding respectively to the its shaft 143 and two die 7 For this purpose, an

This pro-bumping operation consisted merely of bumping the cans at the seams thereof dent the cans at a avera inoperative, first operative, and the second operative positions ofthe male dies 36. w i

In Fig. 6, the transfer point is appropriately marked audit can be seen that the clockwise'male' die,considered from the transfer point, has its associated cam roller in the inner portion 291 of the groovefor face carn' 148 and therefore the male die, is clearly in inoperative position. The male die, immediatelycounterclockwise of the transfer point in Fig. 6, has its cam roller just about to enter the intermediate portion 292 of the, groove of face cam 14%.

A can body is transferred from the transfer turret 20 at the transfer point and cylindrical cam 115 has the channel thereof so arranged that just after a can body is deposited within a pocket on the header turret 25, the plungers 3i? and 31 and their female die members 33 and 34 are moved inwardly so that the female die members enter the opposite endsof the can and therefore retain the can in position to be operated on. The arrangemerit is such that the plungers will remainin the'can body until the can body has been moved around to the bottom of the figure, as the parts are depicted in Fig. 6, and released during the are labeled plungers release can.

Soon after the plungers have entered the can body, the follower rollers 154 on the bell cranks 152 enter the intermediate section 292 of the cam groove of face cam 148 and the male dies 36 at this point are moved inwardly toward the can bodies to an intermediate position and put a set of shallow beads around the can body A and then, as the parts are shown in Fig. 6, the follower rollers 154 enter the outermost portion 293 of the cam groove and cause the male dies assoicated therewith to move inwardly still further to provide the full head on the can. After the full bead has been provided, the follower rollers 154 then enter the innermost section 291 of the cam groove of cam 148 and therefore positively move the male dies back to inoperative position, to allow for the release of the can bodies. As clearly shown in Fig. 7, the female die members 33 and 34 are somewhat smaller than the interior diameter of the can bodies, to allow the female die members to be withdrawn from the can bodies after the beads D have been provided therein.

The can bodies are discharged after being beaded through an outlet chute 321, there being a suitable ejector finger 322 on the chute to positively eject any cans that do not of their-own accord and under the influence of gravity drop into the outlet chute 321. There is a suitable guide 324 extending from the lower mouth of the discharge chute 321 to support the cans as they are released and until they reach the inlet of the inlet chute 321.

By the present invention a combined flanger and header has been provided which is supported on a single base, thereby saving fioor space and expensive runway work. The can bodies, in their travel through both the header and the hanger, remain in the same traverse plane, eliminating moving of the cans from a heading position to a working position, and back to a discharge position and eliminating all the means for transporting and gaging the cans longitudinally. By providing a female die in two parts, the zunount of travel of the female die has been cut in half as compared to prior devices wherein the female die is a single member, therefore enabling speeding up of the heading operation by taking less time to insert and retract the female die members from within the can bodies. The close support for the female die members obtainable by providing a female die in two parts results in eliminating bending of the plungers carrying the die members, which disadvantage has been encountered in prior machines. By the provision of a positive drive for both male and female dies and the two-step beading operation, the expensive pre-bumping of the side seams of can bodies has been eliminated 6 and can bodies can be received directly from the danger. By the provision of the ejector 261 between the flange! turret 16 transfer turret 20, an optional operation of the machine is allowed,'sin ce only certain types of cans, usually large cans, are beaded.

Having thus described my invention, and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A device of the class described comprising a turret having a plurality of pockets'toreceiye can bodies, means for rotating the turret, means for feedingcan bodies in successive fashion to the turret, a pair. of opposed plungers for each pocket, movable' in unison withthe turret and carrying female beading die members on the adjacent ends thererof, means reciprocating the plungers to cause insertionof the female die member's into'the opposite ends of the can bodies and retraction therefrom, arnale beading die for each pair of plungers" movable in unison with the turret and adapted to engage the exterior' of a can body to co-act with the femaledi'e' members within the body to head the can body, athree-stepcam means for shifting each male die'to an inoperative position to allow a can body to be deposited in'th'e associated pocket and then shifting each male die to a first operative position to effect a preliminary beading of the can bodies and then to a second operative position to effect a full heading of the can body and means for axially rotating the dies.

2. A device of the class described comprising a turret having a plurality of pockets to receive can bodies, means for rotating the turret, means for feeding can bodies in successive fashion to the turret, a pair of opposed plungers for each pocket, movable in unison with the turret and carrying female beading die members on the adjacent ends thereof, means reciprocating the plungers to cause insertion of the female die members into the opposite ends of the can bodies and retraction therefrom, a male beading die for each pair of plungers movable in unison with the turret and adapted to engage the exterior of a can body to co-act with the female die members within the body to bead the can body, means swingably mounting the male dies for movement toward and away from their associated pockets, means for swinging each male die to an inoperative position to allow a can body to be deposited in the associated pocket and then to an operative position to enable beading of the can body, and gear means for axially rotating each of the dies.

3. A device of the class described comprising a turret having a plurality of pockets to receive can bodies, means for rotating the turret, means for feeding can bodies in successive fashion to the turret, a pair of opposed plungers for each pocket, movable in unison with the turret and carrying female beading die members on the adjacent ends thereof, means reciprocating the plungers to cause insertion of the female die members into the opposite ends of the can bodies and retraction therefrom, a male beading die for each pair of plungers movable in unison with the turret and adapted to engage the exterior of a can body to co-act with the female die members Within the body to head the can body, means swingably mounting the male dies for movement toward and away from their associated pockets, means for swinging each male die to an inoperative position to allow a can body to be deposited in the associated pocket and then to a first operative position to effect a preliminary beading of the can body and then to a second operative position to effect a full heading of the can body.

4. A device of the class described comprising a turret having a plurality of pockets to receive can bodies, means for rotating the turret, means for supplying can bodies to the turret, a pair of opposed plungers for each pocket, movable in unison with the turret and carrying female beading die members on the adjacent ends thereof, means for reciprocating the plungers to cause insertion of the female die members into the opposite ends of the can bodies and retraction therefrom, a male beading die for Wha I aim each pair of plungers, movable in unison with the turret and adapted to engage the exterior of a can body'to co-act ''with the female die members within the body to bead be deposited in the associated pocket and then to a first operative position to efiect a preliminary beading of the can body and to a second operative position to efiect a full beading of the can body, and gear means for axially rotating each of the dies.

5( A device of the class described comprising a turret having a plurality of pockets to receive can bodies, means for rotating the turret, means for feeding can bodies in successive fashion to the turret, a pair of opposed plungers for each pocket, movable in unison with the turret and carrying female beading die members on the adjacent ends thereof, means reciprocating the plungers to cause'insertion of the female die members into the opposite ends of the can bodies and retraction therefrom, a male beading die for each' pair of plungers movable in unison with the turret, and adapted to engage the exterior of a can body to co-act with the female die members'within the body to bead the can body, means swingably mounting the male dies for movement toward and-away from their associated pockets, a three-step cam means for swinging each male die to an inoperative position toallow a can body to be deposited in the associated pocket and then to f 'a first operative position to eifect a preliminary heading of the can body and then to a second operative position to effect a full beading of the can body, and gear means for axially rotatingeach of the dies.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Peters July 29, 1947 

